Hannah's Bright Star

  As they stepped outside, Hannah knew her mom was right. Grandpa was in good hands. She wished she could say the same for Stardust. It made her sad, thinking of him all alone in that trailer, scared and confused. She had to see him. She just had to.

  They arrived at the beauty shop at ten o’clock, an hour before the carnival was scheduled to open. Adam and Eric had asked a few of their friends to come and assist with the games, and Louanne had asked her two teenage nieces to come and help out as well. Mrs. Crawford went to work explaining each of the stations and how the tickets and prizes would work. She’d asked Hannah to set up the baked goods table next to the ticket counter with a sign that explained the cakewalk was in the back, and every winner got to pick something from the table. A bunch of people had dropped off goodies the night before, so along with her grandma’s stuff, there were a lot of items to spread out.

  Still, it didn’t take Hannah too long to do the work. When she was finished setting up, she glanced behind her and saw that her mother and all of the kids were occupied at one of the stations. Louanne was in the back room. Hannah knew this was her only chance.

  She snuck out the front door and walked around to the large parking lot in back. The bouncy house, which looked like a large castle, was completely inflated. The men who had been there to set it up were gone. On the far side of the lot was the truck and horse trailer. As soon as she spotted it, Hannah ran toward the trailer. There were small windows up by the mule’s head, and she could see him looking at her.

  “It’s okay, Stardust,” she said. “Everything’s all right. I know you didn’t mean it. It wasn’t your fault. You just got scared, that’s all.”

  “Spooked him good, that’s for sure.” Hannah spun around, surprised to see her daddy standing there. She rushed over and gave him a hug.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked him when she pulled away. “What about Grandpa?”

  “Nothing’s broken, thank goodness,” he explained. “Just bruised. He’s gonna be sore for a few days, that’s for sure. But he’s got a prescription to help with the pain and Grandma’s taken him home to rest. Figured y’all could use my help over here.”

  “Can we get him out of the trailer?” Hannah asked. “He’s been in there a long time, and I’m worried he’s upset with us. I want to show him there’s nothing to be afraid of, and that I’m not mad at him.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know, honey. Your grandpa is a lucky man. It could very well happen again.”

  “What happened is as much our fault as it is his. We should have realized the bouncy house would be new to him. We should have prepared him somehow.”

  “You’re right,” Mr. Crawford said. “We probably should have gotten some colorful nylon material and hung it around the farm and made him walk around it. But we didn’t. And I’m just afraid it’s too late to do anything about it now.”

  Hannah bit her lip as tears pricked her eyes. “Mama thinks the worst of him. She doesn’t want me anywhere near him. We have to change her mind. To show her that everything’s okay and he’s not as bad as she thinks he is right now. Please, daddy. Please?”

  Mr. Crawford scratched his scruffy chin and stared at the horse trailer. Then he turned and looked back at the shop. “All right. Let’s get him out here and see what happens.”

  Hannah reached up and gave him another hug. “Thanks, Daddy. Thank you so much.”

  He shook his head. “Are you sure you’re the same girl who was complaining about this here mule not too long ago?”

  “I’m the same girl, I just see things differently now, that’s all.”

  “Okay, let me see if I can get him out of that trailer. You stand back, you hear me?”

  “If you say so,” Hannah said. “I’m going to talk to him, though. I want to let him know I’m right here and there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

  And that’s exactly what she did. While Mr. Crawford slowly led Stardust out of the trailer, Hannah stood to the side and gently encouraged him with her voice. Once the mule was completely out, and standing on the pavement of the parking lot, Hannah slowly approached him.

  “That was awesome,” she told him. “You just backed out of there like you’d done it a million times. Because there’s nothing to be afraid of, isn’t that right?” She patted Stardust’s neck as she turned and spoke to her father. “Can we walk him around the bouncy house and see how he acts?”

  “Even if he does well, Hannah, I’m thinking it’s probably not wise to put strange kids on him today. There’s too much of a risk.”

  “Can I ride him, real quick like?” she asked.

  “You know your mother would have my hide if I did that. But I’ll do my best to convince her to let you ride him later today, if there’s time.”

  “You gonna take him back home, then?” Hannah asked. “I don’t like the idea of him staying in that trailer for the next few hours.”

  “Yep. I’ll take him home and then I’ll come back and help out here however I can.”

  Just then, Mrs. Crawford walked up. “What in the world are the two of you doing? Haven’t we had enough trouble for one day?”

  “I wanted to show you that everything’s fine, Mama. See?” She patted Stardust’s neck, and he turned his head and looked at Mrs. Crawford. “He did great coming out of the trailer. Daddy says we can’t risk having anyone ride him after what happened, though, and I understand. But I’m planning on riding him when we get home later today. And again tomorrow when Elsie and Crystal come over.”

  Mrs. Crawford looked at her husband. “I don’t like this idea very much.”

  “I think it’ll be fine,” he replied. “If it makes you feel better, I’ll ride him first to make sure everything’s all right.”

  “Your mother called me,” Mrs. Crawford said to Mr. Crawford. “Told me they were heading home to rest. I’m glad nothing’s broken.” She looked at Hannah. “It could have been so much worse. We can’t take this lightly. We need to sit down and have a long conversation about this when we have more time. But right now, people are arriving. There’s a line by the front door. So, what I need you to do right now is go inside and get ready to sell tickets. Can you do that for me, please?”

  There was so much Hannah wanted to say, but she knew this wasn’t the time. “Yes, ma’am. I can do that.”

  Hannah turned to give Stardust one last pat, when a group of people walked up to them. Not just any group of people — Mr. Brody and some of the kids from the 4-H club.

  “Hey, Hannah,” Mr. Brody said. “We came out to support your fund-raiser. It’s a great thing, what y’all are doing for the Westons.”

  “Oh, well, thanks so much for coming,” she replied.

  “What’s the mule doing here?” Carson asked.

  Hannah spoke up quickly, before either of her parents had a chance to respond. She didn’t want them to mention what had happened to her grandpa. It might make them think even less of Stardust. “We were going to let people ride him and get their pictures taken, but he got kind of spooked by the bouncy house.”

  Mr. Brody walked over and let Stardust sniff his hand before he gently stroked his neck. “That’s too bad, though I’ve seen it happen many times over the years. And I certainly understand your hesitation. Better to be safe than sorry.”

  “Aw, I wanted to ride him,” Darren said. “I’m curious if it’s the same as riding a horse.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Mary Beth said.

  Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. They didn’t like Stardust. Did they?

  “I have an idea,” Mr. Brody said. “How about at our next riding meeting, we let people take turns riding Stardust? And then at the following educational meeting, we compare mules and horses, discussing the ways they are both different and similar.” He looked at Mr. Crawford. “If that’s all right with you, of course.”

  “I think that’s a fine idea,” Mr. Crawford said. “Hannah sure likes riding him, and I bet the rest of the kids will feel the same.”
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  “Actually,” Mrs. Crawford said with authority in her voice, “we’re not sure at this point in time if Hannah will be keeping Stardust.”

  “Sarah,” Mr. Crawford said, “That’s a little extreme, don’t you think? We’re going to discuss the situation, remember?”

  There was a moment of awkward silence before Mr. Brody said, “Well, I hope everything works out. One of the things I planned on doing while I was here was to let you know that we’d love to have Hannah and Stardust ride in the Valentine’s Day parade with us.”

  This news should have made Hannah jump for joy. It was a childhood dream, finally coming true. Except, because of a silly bouncy house, her dream might not come true at all.

  That night, Hannah lay in her bed, turning over the events of the day in her mind. The carnival had been a huge success. They’d raised lots of money for the Westons, but not only that, three different people from Chattanooga had left their business cards asking Mr. Weston to call them to inquire about positions they had available at their companies. When the Westons had stopped in to see the carnival for themselves and to thank everyone for their hard work, Mrs. Crawford gave them the good news about the results of the fund-raiser and the job prospects Mr. Weston now had. Elsie’s parents had stood there in awe, struggling not to cry.

  “Thank you so much,” Elsie had told Hannah when she pulled her away for a second to talk to her in private. “For everything. I’m really sorry about getting mad at you last week. I shouldn’t have done that. You’ve done nothing but help me. You’re a good friend, Hannah.”

  “I’m so glad everything’s looking up for y’all,” Hannah had said.

  Of course, what she hadn’t said was how badly things were going for Hannah. The bracelet hadn’t turned up, and now there was a possibility she could lose Stardust too.

  After the carnival was over, at two, the Crawford family had spent a couple of hours getting the beauty shop back to normal. When they were finished, everyone was starving. Adam and Eric convinced Mr. Crawford to take the family out to eat at Fries and Pies. Normally, Hannah would have been thrilled about this, but she was too upset worrying about Stardust to eat much.

  When they’d gotten home, Mrs. Crawford said that after the long, hard day they’d had, they were going to visit Grandpa and Grandma for a little while, and then settle in for a family movie night. Hannah had tried to protest, wanting to go out and at least see Stardust, but her mother had been firm. “Hannah, I’m tired. I don’t want to discuss this right now. Your father can feed him tonight.”

  Her daddy had tried to reassure her. “We’ll talk tomorrow, all right? Try not to worry. Everything’s going to work out.”

  Now, Hannah tossed and turned, wondering what they would decide to do. She understood that her mother was worried, that she thought she was looking out for Hannah, trying to prevent her from getting hurt. But she didn’t know Stardust the way Hannah did. Hannah knew for certain he hadn’t meant to hurt her grandpa. It’d been an accident. It could have happened with any horse or mule, and that’s what she had to get her mother to understand.

  Across the room, a little bit of light slipped through the crack where the curtains met up in the middle of the window. Hannah got up and pulled the curtains back. The light came from the half-moon in the sky. Stars twinkled around it, and she thought back to the night she’d decided to name the mule Stardust. Now, more than ever, she needed a little of that magic Elsie had talked about.

  The stars seemed to be calling her name, as if they wanted to help her. She knew she should get back in bed and go to sleep. But that’s not what she did. Instead, she got dressed, grabbed a flashlight from a drawer in the kitchen, and walked out into the cool night air.

  She studied the night sky as she headed toward the barn, walking slowly so she wouldn’t trip on anything. When she saw the light streak across the sky, she let out a gasp and stopped, frozen in place.

  A falling star. She’d seen a falling star! Quickly, she closed her eyes and made a wish.

  I know I didn’t like Stardust at first, but I like him now. I think I even love him, and I don’t want him to go. I don’t want to lose him like I lost the bracelet. Please, let him stay.

  After wishing on the star, she made her way to the barn. Once inside, she shut the doors and turned on all of the lights. She couldn’t get to Stardust fast enough. When he saw her, he nodded his head and swished his tail, as if to say hello. She cozied up to his head and stroked his face. “I know you didn’t mean to do it,” she whispered. “I’m not mad. I promise.”

  She wanted to ride him so badly. To let him know that as far as she was concerned, nothing had changed. But it was dark outside and she knew she’d get into huge trouble if she got caught.

  “How about if I brush you?” she said to him.

  She opened the door to his stall and led him out to the place he always stood to be brushed and saddled. “Stay here while I get the brush,” she told him.

  As she walked to the shelf where the brush was stored, she heard something. She turned around to find that Stardust had backed up a few feet, so his rear end was practically resting up against the barn doors.

  “Hey,” Hannah called out. “What are you doing?” She quickly grabbed the brush before she returned to his left side. “You want to go outside? Is that it? I’m sorry, but we can’t. Not tonight. Now come on, let’s get you back where you belong.”

  But he stood there, and when she tried to get him to move forward, he wouldn’t move. “What’s wrong, boy?” she asked. “What is it?”

  He picked up his front right hoof and then set it back down, though not all the way. It was the one that had been hurt, and Hannah wondered if it was bothering him again. She moved around so she stood in front of him and looked down at his right hoof. And that’s when she saw something shiny, barely sticking out from beneath the wooden door that made up one of the stalls on the right side of the barn.

  “It can’t be, can it?” she whispered as she reached down and pulled on it.

  It came out in one piece and everything was there, looking just as adorable as ever.

  The charm bracelet.

  Hannah threw the brush down and wrapped her arms around Stardust’s neck. “You found it for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” She laughed as she thought of the bracelet here, in the barn, this whole time. It must have fallen off of Elsie’s wrist when they’d come to the barn that Saturday to ride Stardust. For a second, she wondered if Stardust had originally stepped on the bracelet and that’s what caused the small hole in his hoof. But given the position of the bracelet, that seemed unlikely. It was still in perfect condition too.

  She stuffed the bracelet into her pocket and went back to the task at hand. After he was brushed and back in his stall, Hannah told him, “Everything’s going to be okay. I’m sure of it. I saw a falling star and you found the lucky bracelet. Luck is on our side now. I can feel it.”

  Hannah was so happy, it seemed as if she floated back to the house on a magical star. Back inside her room, she took the bracelet out of her pocket and clasped it onto her wrist.

  A memory came to mind of Caitlin, Mia, Libby, and Hannah standing at the counter of the Pink Giraffe, gathering their money to pay for the bracelet. They’d been so excited to find something that sealed their friendship. Something they could pass around and share during the time they couldn’t physically be together. Hannah had been worried she’d ruined it all, but the bracelet was back. Tomorrow night, after she spent time with Elsie and Crystal, Hannah would make sure to write each of her camp friends a letter. They were probably starting to worry because she hadn’t written them in so long.

  But for now, she crawled into bed and fell asleep with a smile on her face.

  * * *

  The next morning, the family went to church and then returned home to have lunch and do chores.

  As they sat at the dining table finishing up their soup and sandwiches, Hannah decided she couldn’t wait any longer. “Um,
Elsie and Crystal are coming over so we can work on our science fair project.”

  “Oh, that sounds like fun,” her daddy said. “What’s the project?”

  “We’re going to see if changes in the moon affect how well you can see the stars. Today we’ll plan everything out. The stargazing will come later. Anyway, I was wondering, while they’re here, if we could also —”

  Mrs. Crawford interrupted her. “You’re going to ask about riding Stardust, aren’t you?”

  Hannah gulped and fingered the charm bracelet. This was it. If the bracelet was lucky, she needed it to work now more than ever. “Yes.”

  Mrs. Crawford set her spoon down and pushed her soup bowl to the side. She folded her hands and placed them in front of her, on the table. “Sweetheart, your grandpa made sure to tell me last night that I shouldn’t be too hard on Stardust. That it wasn’t his fault. He said he and your daddy should have realized how awful and scary that bouncy house must have looked to the mule.”

  “Do you think he’s right?” Hannah asked, holding her breath.

  Mrs. Crawford looked at Mr. Crawford. She didn’t say anything for a moment. “Do you trust him?” she asked her husband. “The mule, I mean.”

  “One hundred percent,” he replied without any hesitation.

  She turned back to Hannah. “Yes. I think your grandpa is right. And I think you two are going to look mighty fine in the Valentine’s Day parade.”

  Hannah jumped up and ran over to her mother’s chair and threw her arms around her neck as she gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Thanks, Mama. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome!”

  “Daddy, can we go get him saddled up? The girls will be here soon.”

  He stood up. “You bet your boots we can.”

  * * *

  When Elsie arrived a little while later, Hannah ran to the driveway to greet her. “You’re not going to believe what I found,” she said, holding her wrist out for her to see.

  Elsie’s eyes got big and round. “No way.”